This was my first mechanical keyboard. I've moved beyond, but I'll never forget how impressed I was by this gem. This is a high end Costar-made board; no China made weakness here, even though it costs the same as much worse China-made keyboards from Razer and other brands.

This is how it raised the bar; quality mechanical keyboard for under $100? This was unheard of before CM. Pretty much every peripheral lineup of theirs raised the bar; their mice certainly did, especially when you factored in their prices. Ever since their gaming mouse lineup, most other manufacturers dropped their prices to compete. Their Sirus headset is one of few true surround headsets; as in it isn't software emulation, and it now has an amazing price, not to mention it actually has decent bass in addition to good sound quality. This trio is a very rare thing. So yeah, the QuickFire Rapid fits right in with those.

It's a tenkeyless board, which I find ideal for gamers. I never really used my numberpad, and I heavily prefer more mouse room for larger strokes. It takes some getting used to I suppose, but I know I'll never go back.

You can get this board with Cherry MX Red, Blue, Brown, or Black switches. The Red model looks different, as seen in the picture. This is one of the most preferred "gaming switches", along with blacks, since they aren't tactile. Tactile is just unnecessary for gaming, and some might find it to be intrusive. Read OCN's brilliant mechanical keyboard guide if you haven't.

Personally, I prefer Reds for gaming (I haven't tried blacks), and Blues for typing. Browns are just not tactile enough for me, they might as well be linear. Seriously, Clears need to replace those on the mainstream market. Heck, I really want to try Greens too. Blues are almost too soft for me.

This costs almost the same as the QuickFire TK, which I reviewed here. That one has a backlight and more functionality, but the board quality is much worse since it's some China OEM. The keycaps are much nicer, but you can just get a replacement set for the Rapid. It's a compromise really. My full review of the Rapid can be found here.

Having owned both, if I could only choose one, it would probably be the Rapid. But I took the better route; sold both and saved up for a Ducky Shine II, which has a backlight with much more customization than the QuickFire TK, has quality at least on par with the Rapid, with keycaps that feel the same as the TK. Win-win. But now there's a mouthwatering Ducky Shine III on the way...

First of all this is my first mechanical keyboard so I don't have any past experience with mechanical keyboards. I went from a Logitech membrane keyboard to this keyboard with Cherry Mx Browns and I must say I am impressed. The keyboard is very low profile, without any flashy back-lights or logos. My keyboard arrived with only one CM Storm logo on the back and it is in a matte black color. The OEM of this board is Costar, so you get the Costar stabilizers on the larger keys and they feel very nice.

The only cons I have with this keyboard are that at first it was really hard to fully plug in the USB cable and the keyboard would not work (really scared me ). Once I fully pushed it in it worked. So just be sure to have the cable fully plugged into the board. Also the LEDs on the Caps lock, Scroll lock and windows key lock buttons are rather bright. However when they don't disturb me too much as I only see them at an angle when I sit at my desk.

All in all I must say that I spent months reading up on mechanical keyboards (here at OCN, Geekhack) and after changing my mind several times I went with this. The TKL design fits nicely on my desk and as this is my first mechanical keyboard I must say its a nice change from regular membrane keyboards

The CM Storm Quickfire Rapid is a Tenkeyless Cherry MX Red Switch keyboard. I purchased my keyboard at the CM Store . It took about a week to ship out (even though the site claims there is a 2-3 day turn around after the order is placed). The price was $89.99 + shipping.

My initial impressions of the keyboard are very positive. Build quality is great. I also own a Filco Tenkeyless with Black switches. The CM Storm build is very, very similar to the Filco in quality and craftsmanship. It's built very sturdy and the base has a good weight to it (not too heavy though). Part of the heft comes from the rubber-coating but it doesn't cause it to flex. There are four rubber coated feet + two foldable stands on the bottom.

This is my first time trying red switches and I must say, I really, really like them. You can definitely feel a difference between red and black MX's (if you like linear switches).

The keyboard comes with a mini-USB to USB cable that is sleeved. The sleeving looks very similar to TechFlex nylon sleeving and is very sturdy. It might be too sturdy if you plan to use the grooves behind the keyboard to place the cable through. The point at which the mini-USB attaches to the keyboard doesn't give much lenient space for the cable to be routed through the left or right grooves. It will fit, but it almost looks as if the bent portion of the cable after routing it is a bit too stressed.

Cooler Master also provides a PS/2 adapter if you want full NKRO for the keys. If you are just using the USB, you will be getting a polling rate of 1000Hz (1ms response time) for the keys.

Another valued addition, in my opinion, is the media keys.

These are enabled via the Fn key. There are 8 media keys and my favorite is the "Disable Windows Key" key. I love disabling it for when playing games that can cause me to hit that darn key and switch to the Windows OS by mistake. There are red LED's on the Disable Windows key, Scroll Lock and Caps Lock. Also included in the box are a keycap puller and red replacement keycaps for your arrows keys. There are also spare keycaps with the Cooler Master logo for your Ctrl or Alt keys. As far as aesthetics, the keyboard is red and black. Black casing and black keycaps with a red board underneath the key sections. The keycaps are laser etched with a very nice robotic looking font. Some of the keycaps I could feel the etching more than others and it took a bit getting used to. The keycaps themselves are a bit more rougher than Filco keycaps but my fingertips liked how they felt.

All in all, I would definitely recommend this keyboard for anyone who wants a tenkeyless keyboard with MX red switches. It is simply divine.

I added O-rings to my keys as to lessen me bottoming out when I type. It also helps reduce that oh so hated mechanical keyboard clacks that some folks don't like . These are not included with the package.